SAN BERNARDINO: Arrest announced in slaying of elderly woman

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Dirck Blaskey speaks at a Jan. 7 news conference that announced a $10,000 reward for information about the slayings of his 76-year-old mother, Mary Beth Blaskey, and two other elderly San Bernardino women.

An arrest has been made in the slaying of an elderly woman who was killed last year in her San Bernardino home, though police are withholding the identity of the suspect and details of the arrest until Monday.

“It’s still an ongoing investigation,” Sgt. Gary Robertson said of the arrest of a 57-year-old San Bernardino man in the Nov. 14 killing of 76-year-old Mary Beth Blaskey.

The arrest was made at 4:30 p.m. Friday, April 5, along the 300 block of West 48th Street. Information about the suspect and the investigation is expected to be released during a Monday morning press conference at police headquarters.

Blaskey was attacked in her home along the 3000 block of North Fremontia Drive and robbed of her car and other items. The car was recovered about two weeks later in north San Bernardino.

Blaskey is among three elderly women who have been robbed and killed during the past 8-1/2 years in their San Bernardino homes, where each lived alone. On Jan. 7, police offered a $10,000 reward for information that could help them solve the cases.

The reward offer is still in effect, but apparently had nothing to do with Friday’s arrest.

“In initial information on this suspect was obtained prior to that (press) conference” announcing the reward, Robertson said. “But that reward is still good in all three cases.”

Still unsolved are the slayings of 86-year-old Wanda Paulin who was killed Dec. 12, 2010, along North Mountain View Avenue and 90-year-old Josephin Kelly who was killed Sept. 15, 2005s, along North Muscupiable Drive.

Detectives have virtually ruled out any connection between the slayings of Blaskey and Kelly, Robertson said. But they’re still checking into a link between the killings of Blaskey and Paulin.

“It’s something we’re looking into,” Robertson said, “but we have not been able to make a connection.”

“Blaskey and Paulin were members of the First Presbyterian Church on D Street in San Bernardino at the time of their deaths, and Kelly was a former member, police said early this year.

At the Jan. 7 press conference, Dirck Blaskey said his mother was a substitute secretary for the San Bernardino City Unified School District, working mostly at San Gorgonio High School.

“She had a rich life and a lot of friends,” he said after looking into news cameras and urging anyone with information about the case – no matter how trivial it might seem – to call police.